Men's Tennis | 2/20/2016 3:44:00 PM

WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Whitman College's men's tennis team opened defense of its Northwest Conference crown with a 9-0 sweep of visiting George Fox University Saturday afternoon at the Whitman Tennis Courts. Ranked 17th in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Division III poll, the Missionaries jumped on the Bruins during doubles action by taking each of the three doubles matches.

Whitman, fourth in the ITA West Region, begins its conference slate with a 1-0 record and is now 1-2 overall after opening the spring schedule against D-I Idaho and the NAIA's Lewis-Clark State College. George Fox (1-3, 0-1) is ranked 12th in the ITA D-III West.

Jake Hoeger and Petar Jivkov were quickest to finish for Whitman in doubles action, rolling to an 8-2 win at No. 3 over Fox's Tristen Lerma and Mitchell Miyashiro. The closing point of doubles came from the No. 2 pairing of Robert Carter and Adam Rapoport who closed out an 8-5 win over the Bruins' Nicholas Grafton and Vincent Filoria.

In between came the match involving the most drama, and between a pair of nationally-ranked doubles tandems. Whitman's Zach Hewlin and Phillip Locklear are ranked 14th in the preseason and squared off against No. 21 Chris Lilley and Spencer Watanabe, putting the same match-up from the ITA Fall 2015 West Regional championship final back on the same courts. Back in late September the Whitman duo captured the Regional title with a straight-set win over Lilley and Watanabe.

Saturday's rematch started off slowly for the Regional champions, however, as they found themselves trailing 4-2 in the early going. Like an on/off switch, the circuit clicked on for Hewlin and Locklear as they registered a service break to pull within a game. A service hold followed by another break gave the Whitman pair the lead, and they were able to close out the win, 8-5, by adding two more service holds and another break.

Singles action was just as dominant for Whitman as it picked up straight-set wins from Hewlin (at No. 1), Jivkov (No. 4), Rapoport (No. 5) and Gary Ho (No. 6). Carter fell behind by dropping the opening set at 3-singles but pulled even with Fox's Grafton with a second-set victory, then closed out the match, 6-2, in the third.

Locklear was locked in a battle with Lilley at No. 2, taking the first set, 6-3, before allowing Lilley to square the match with a 7-5 win in the second. It was all business in the third for Locklear as he rolled out to a 5-0 lead before finishing Lilley off, 6-1.

The Missionaries continue conference play Sunday when Lewis & Clark College comes to town for an 11 a.m. match scheduled for the outdoor courts.